Abstract: The geometry model which can represent the flow characteristics of the automobile rear view mirror is built. The model is a wedge body for the installation of a rear view mirror of a minivan. The wedge body represents the shape features of the automobile’s A-pillar and the side window. The flow field around the model and the basic aerodynamic noise source term information are simulated by using the computational fluid dynamics software Star-CD and the steady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes(RANS) method. The unsteady flow field and sound pressure levels of the monitoring points on the side window are computed by using a subdomain numerical simulation method. The flow field simulation is verified by wind tunnel experiments by using the surface tuft flow visualization method and the Particle Image Velocimetry technique. Sound pressure levels of the monitoring points on the side window are measured in the wind tunnel. The aerodynamic noise prediction using computational fluid dynamics method is evaluated by wind tunnel experimental results. The subdomain method can reduce the computational cost without losing the accuracy according to the comparison results. The subdomain numerical simulation method is considered as a feasible solution for estimating aerodynamic noise at the early stage of automobile development.

Key words: Aerodynamic noise, Automotive aerodynamics, Rear view mirror, Subdomain numerical simulation, Unsteady flow field